First Look
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day six hundred and twenty-three: Prom was supposed to be a magical evening, and neither of them believed it at first, but then...


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 29th cycle. Now cycle 30!_

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><p><strong>Hear that little bird twitter!<strong> _Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then this morning decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!_

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><p><strong>"First Look"<br>Sam/Mercedes  
>Samcedes Firsts #1 (series concept inspired by HRZN!) <strong>

By any means, they hadn't seen this coming. This had nothing to do with the fact that they'd both been in Glee Club together for the better part of the school year and never really looked at each other in any way close to that. No, the 'unexpectation' was due to the fact that neither of them had originally planned to go to this prom. It wasn't for lack of wanting to go, not deep down, but there had been things in the way.

For Mercedes, it was the culmination of time after time finding herself on her own. She'd seen enough dances and Friday nights go by not to see it all add up to one conclusion: she wouldn't get a date to the prom, she wouldn't feel the magic of it, and all she'd get for going would be uninterrupted availability to go on stage, the better for everyone to witness this.

Then for Sam, well, it all came right back to money, and his current family situation. His parents had both, secretly, offered to put in the funding for a tux, corsage, everything that would be needed for this night. But in both cases he'd pretended that he didn't want to go, because he could see that, as much as they wanted to do this for him, all it would do would be to put them even more under. He wasn't going to be the reason for that happening, no. He would rather go without.

But then something happened, something intervened… They might call it 'their meddlesome fairy godmother,' or just Rachel. With one move she had convinced Mercedes to go, and with the next she had Sam roped in. And just like that, they had been pulled in, like the first circle that had made their paths cross – Glee Club – had gotten smaller, bringing them in just that much closer. Even then, they hadn't seen it coming… the circle would get smaller, just one more time, just until all it was going to hold would be the two of them, and then there they would be, face to face… faced with the fact.

It had started this way, slowly but surely, as their prom trio had become a quartet, with the addition of Jesse. By default, this had placed them as two couples, but… well, it was all in the hands of realization. If they couldn't have seen it coming, then they couldn't expect to clue in so easily either. They'd gone to Breadstix, then the gym… There had been singing, there had been dancing… not so much face to face 'serious' dancing, just sort of playing around. They'd drift apart, find each other, drift again…

It was Sam who had his discovery first. He'd looked, across the gym, and then he'd seen her there, sitting at a table, all on her own. He'd felt like… he knew what was going through her mind. She'd gotten to go, on this four-way date and now Rachel was with Jesse, which… which meant…

He looked at her, across the gym… Another like him, in some ways if not in others, and by chance or fate or dumb luck, they had the opportunity to have just what they'd wanted. He'd wanted to put on a suit, go to prom… she wanted the same, probably, only in a dress… Of all the ways for wishes to come true, this was kind of spectacular to him, and he wanted her to feel that too… He knew exactly how…

So he had walked up to her, offered his hand, and he had asked her to dance. He didn't know what he expected to come of this, but when he saw the look in her eyes… the circle snapped shut, just him and her to be held inside.

He had no idea how spot on his timing had been. Seconds before he approached her, as the conclusion became that she'd found herself exactly in the scenario she had expected to be in, she had been on the verge of getting up, leaving prom behind and heading home. She had thought of how stupid of her it was, letting herself believe for once things could…

As far as mysterious handsome strangers, he was as close to it as she could expect, in such short notice. She could have thought that it was just… courtesy amongst friends, amongst club mates… Did she care? Not in the least, not in that moment. She had waited for this, and she wasn't going to rest on a technicality, even as she didn't know it wouldn't stay a technicality for very long.

They danced. At first, yes, it felt odd, because of who they had and hadn't been to each other up until this point. But then it slowly changed. It was almost like an off-shoot of an expression like… 'if the shoe fits.' Whatever it was, she'd lived with illusions and disappointments long enough to tell the difference. This wasn't even like what she'd had with Puck. Even then, it was illusion, or her kidding herself… almost the same thing had happened with Kurt. And if she was going to look at this through good old process of elimination, then what was left… She looked into his eyes, looked for… confirmation, or reciprocation… had his eyes always been so bright?

It was like he was seeing her for the first time. Everything he knew of her was washed away for a blank slate to be filled with the wonder of Mercedes Jones. He'd had as bad a year as he'd ever had, and he could only hope it wouldn't ever be repeated, that things would start taking a turn… This looked as good as any time to declare that he was starting his climb uphill. It could all be as simple as this… find someone who made him happy, who gave him a chance for true renewal. Whatever had happened before, it had been covered up in lies, in hiding the truth of his home life. Now it wasn't hiding anymore. It could have been scary, but it wasn't. Instead, he just felt relief. And if this could go where he thought it was going, then he could work out just who this new real Sam was supposed to be, and he wouldn't be alone.

So they hadn't seen it coming, but maybe it was better off that way. Something so unexpected could only lead to discoveries, and that was coupled with this connection, or this understanding of this existence they had 'on the edge.' He'd been popular, and she'd been on her own even if she kept a strong front about it… but they both knew what it was like finding themselves on the outs even there. Now they could be there 'together.' Maybe… what came next would tell it all. As for prom, they had their wish and they weren't going to let it go and waste away.

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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